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Realtor.com adds home valuations???

A little poking around the realtor.com site revealed a pretty interesting feature. They now have a home valuation comparable (in features, not in accuracy) to Zillow. Definitely something I would think teh AR community would be interested in exploring. :)

Posted by Dustin Luther on 06/09/2008 07:40 PM

Comments (12)

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Originally posted at: Authentic Real Estate Marketing: Realtor.com adds home valuations???

Post is included in group: Technology

12 Comments on Realtor.com adds home valuations???

JUN

2008

Hi Dustin ... that's interesting. And does it take the place of a realtor:) I'll have to check it out.

Very interesting -- I wonder how useful this really is.

Interesting. Yes, I would hope it's not comparable in accuracy. The first time I saw Zillow pick a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1600 foot single family as a comp for an 800 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bath condo, I was torn between crying and laughing my butt off. Oh, ok, I'll admit it, I wasn't torn -- I just started laughing.

I haven't looked yet at what Realtor.com put together, but given their database, a reasonably competent broker and developer could code up something better in a week or two. What galls me about Zillow is that it's really not a hard problem if you have the geocoding data and everything else you need -- draw a circle, pick like style homes from the same zip code that are alike in year built, size, and acreage.

while (not sufficient_comps() ) {

widen_criteria();

}

Homes on acreage make it harder to do well just from a database, but the general case is pretty easy to teach a computer to do.

JUN

2008

Marie and Joan: I'd be curious to learn just how useful you think consumers would find the new service... If you get a chance to check it out, let me know!

John: I agree that Zillow can also be spectacularly off at times. AVMs are such an odd game... but have become an expectations for consumers at this point.

Morning Dustin,

Thanks for sharing. I hadn't noticed the feature. Will check it out and see if the comps are in the ball park.

Hal, my guess is that you'll be disappooined if you set your expecations too high, but I'd be curious to get your feedback!

JUN

2008

Zillow still is a non-presence here due to the lack of online tax data. I assume that r.com will have the same problem although they do have access to listings which zillow does not. I'm glad I don't have to re-educate the consumer about AVMs everyday, but maybe they'll improve before they reach the hinterlands.

JUN

2008

HI Dustin,

I am way underimpressed with Realtor.com, they are in the 90's in my opinion in what they offer other than the IDX, I think their market share will dwindle because they seem to be throwing ideas at the wall in reaction to what they hear or see. Good CMA's always trump the tax record ballparks.

Thisis the first post I read of yours thanks to Susie Blackmon marking youa s one of her favorite bloggers.

Thanks Ross for reaching out! and no doubt I tend to agree with your assessment..

JUL

2008

Thanks for the heads up Dustin - it does seem like Zillow has been proactive and diligent in improving their methodologies, but they're a long way away from putting appraisers out of business. When it comes to real estate, where every single property is unique, it is extremely tough to automate systems. Still, it's progress!

JUL

2008

I post my listings on Zillow now because of a recent post on AR, and I was pleasantly surprised that all of my listings were in the price range I had them already! Big improvement over last year when the "zestimates" were indeed laughable or cryable, depending on your view. I will check out Realtor.com, thanks for the heads-up.

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